Trump: ‘We’re Going to Have Negotiation’ on AHCA, ‘We Will Take Care of Our People, Or I’m Not Signing It’

During an interview broadcast on Wednesday’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” President Trump stated of the American Health Care Act, “I think we’re going to have negotiation, but you have to understand, we only have 52.” And that while “a lot of things” aren’t consistent with the message of the election, “these are going to be negotiated. … We will take care of our people, or I’m not signing it.”

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When asked if the current bill [relevant exchange begins around 5:00] was “the best the Republicans could do after seven years of thinking about it?”

He answered, “I think we’re going to have negotiation, but you have to understand, we only have 52. We only have two-vote — we have a two-vote margin. And you’re always — you know, to get 52 people is very hard. If we had 60 — or 60 votes, we could do something different.” He added that Democrats won’t vote for any bill, no matter how good it is. w

When asked about the tax cut for investors in the bill, and an analysis by Bloomberg that showed counties that voted for him would do less well than counties that voted for Hillary under the AHCA. He answered, “A lot of things are inconsistent [with the message of the last election], but these are going to be negotiated. We’ve got to go to the Senate. We’re going to see what happens in the Senate.” After re-iterating that no Democrats will vote for it, he stated, “We will take care of our people, or I’m not signing it.”

Trump was then asked about House Speaker Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI), to which he said, “I think he’s on board with the American people. I do believe that strongly. I think he is on board with my presidency. I think he wants to make it very successful. I like him. We had our run-ins…but I think he is very much of — he wants to do the right thing. That I believe 100%. We’re going to take care of the people, and by the way, if we’re not going to take care of the people, I’m not signing anything. … I’m in a little way, I’m an arbitrator.” He continued that health care reform would be a three-phase process.